by Wallace McMullen, Chapter Energy Chair
California gives renewable energy a boost
The California legislature has passed a bill (SB 1078), that will implement a renewables portfolio standard (RPS). The legislation will require utilities in the State to increase their purchases of renewable energy by one percent per year so that at least 20 percent of the State’s retail sales are acquired from eligible renewable energy resources by December 31, 2015. This will approximately double current renewable energy production levels!
This is expected to have a large impact, as California is one of the largest electric markets in the USA. With a known market for renewable energy generating equipment, the costs for renewable energy generation are expected to drop throughout the nation. This will enhance the cost-competitiveness of generating electricity from renewable sources in all states.
AmerenUE plans new power lines
AmerenUE, the big electric utility on the east side of the state, is planning several new power lines in the area south of the Calloway nuclear plant and around Jefferson City.
OSAGE – MARIES COUNTIES: The biggest new transmission line is proposed to run south from the Calloway plant, near the town of Linn, to a point near Waynesville. The utility can use the power of eminent domain to legally seize the right of way if the landowners are not willing to sell it to them. AmerenUE representatives have said they need a corridor roughly 250 feet wide. They will cut the trees in the corridor and kill the vegetation in the route with Roundup. This is distressing to those in the proposed route.
A group of about 250 farmers and landowners in the proposed path have been meeting regularly and have hired an experienced lawyer to help them oppose the project. Doug McDaniel, one of the leaders of “Concerned Citizens of Family Farms and Heritage” says that the Public Service Commission usually rubber-stamps such utility proposals. However, his group has been successful in persuading the PSC to give them a hearing. The hearing is scheduled for the end of September.
One of the reasons that the group has opposed this powerline is that it seems to be mostly intended to transmit power out of the service area. There has been no population growth in the area where it will end. However, Panda Energy has obtained permits to build a large merchant power plant near the northern end of the proposed route.
A large segment of the proposed right of way for this transmission line has been given to AmerenUE by rural electric co-operatives, primarily Three Rivers Electric Co-op. Why they were so generous is presently unknown.
JEFFERSON CITY: Also, AmerenUE has announced plans to build a new substation near Jefferson City, saying the electric load in Jefferson City has grown 32% in the past ten years, and they need to acquire 30 to 60 acres of land for that purpose on the northwest edge of the city. AmerenUE also plans to build a new 161 kilovolt line across Jeff City from the proposed new substation to the eastern edge of the city near the new State prison, and then a new 345 kV line east for about 20 miles, plus a new 69,000 volt line along the southeastern edge of Jefferson City.
The new construction around Jefferson City is estimated to cost $21 million. AmerenUE has not yet disclosed the proposed route of the new powerlines in the city. Stories in the Jefferson City News Tribune indicate that the landowner is very unwilling to sell the land for the proposed new sub-station. Again, the utility has the power of eminent domain to obtain the needed land if landowners are unwilling to sell, and a court rules that the infrastructure will be in the public interest, (which has been usual in such cases).